Printing Banknotes By Hand

Pictured is one of the pressrooms in Washington, DC, printing banknotes in 1904.

Being printed are $10 National Bank Notes, Series 1882 with 4 notes to a sheet. The printers and their female assistants are working on hand-operated flatbed presses.

On the table in the bottom-left of the picture are some objects you won't find in modern security printing. Moving from left to right, there is the heater topped with a lump of ink and an ink roller, then a heater where the plate sits while being inked, and a lump of chalk.

The ink and plate were kept warm to increase the viscosity of the ink and to facilitate the action of getting the ink into the intaglio grooves on the plate.

The chalk was used by the printer to polish the plate after inking. After the printer had rolled ink over the plate, he would take a muslin rag and remove most of the surface ink. He would then chalk his hands and, bare handed, do the final polish of the plate, removing all surface ink. The only ink remaining would be in the grooves.

The inked plate was placed on one side of the press with a piece of paper on top of it. The plate would be run through the press, appearing on the other side with a printed sheet. And, the process would begin again.